John Hill : Short Biography

John Hill, son of William Hill and Maria Sheerin

Born: May 3, 1842 in Manister Parish, near Croom, County Limerick, Ireland

“[F]rom Tory Hill you look down on the spot where Father and all the others were born and reared. . . . I looked down on Tory Hill Lake, by which he used to play, and on the very spot where the cabin stood where our grandmother, too, lived when she was a girl.  There is not a stick or a stone left, but it was the house nearest to the lake. “[1]

Baptism: May 11, 1842, Manister Parish, Diocese of Limerick (Fedamore)[2]

Name: John Hill

Date of Baptism: 11 May 1842

Father: William Hill

Mother: Maria Sheerin

John Hill became a teacher in the National Schools of Ireland at the age of 15.  Taught for eight or nine years, until the age of 24, when circumstances arose which drove him from his country for refuge in the United States. He had become one of the leaders of the Fenians in Limerick and Tipperary counties.  In the spring of 1866, the government arrested the national leaders of the movement.  At this time John Hill was teaching in a school in Tipperary County when one night he received warning that he was to be arrested the next morning.  He hurried to Cork [sic] where he obtained passage on a sailing vessel for New York.[3]

  “The next day I found out that my father, before he left for Liverpool and America, was teaching school in that part of Tipperary at which I was looking and that for part of the time he lived in Killaloe.”[4]

Emigrated to the United States, arriving in New York City on June 16, 1866[5]

First Name: John

Last Name: Hill

Occupation: Laborer

Age: 24

Sex: Male

Paid By: Self

Ship: City of Paris

Arrived: 16 June 1866

Country: Ireland

Port of Departure: Liverpool

Country of Birth: Ireland

Enlisted in the U. S. Army on Jun 27, 1866, served until he deserted on March 13, 1869.[6]

Record for John Hill.  Enlisted June 27, 1866 in New York for three years.  Age 24&1/2, born Limerick, Ireland.  Occupation student, gray eyes, brown hair, fair complexion, 5' 8&1/4".  Assigned to Engineer Regiment.  Deserted March 13, 1869

Was stationed at Willets Point (later Fort Totten), a fort on the north shore of Long Island, New York at the mouth of the East River, in January 1868[7]

After deserting the Army, John travelled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, working first in the stables of William Hunsecker and then in the hardware store owned by Rev. Jacob Reinhold as a sales clerk.[8]  It was during this period that he adopted the name John William Byrne.

At the urging of Rev. Reinhold, John accepted a position teaching in a private elementary/secondary academy in Marysville, Tennessee.  He taught in the academy for two years, during 1870 and 1871.  At the end of 1871 he declined to contract for another year and returned to Lancaster

John married Mary Ann Reinhold, daughter of Rev. Jacob Reinhold, on February 6, 1872.[9]  John William and Mary Ann had five children, four of whom survived to adulthood:

Mary, born November 1, 1872

Jacob, October 24, 1874

Alice, born August 28, 1876

John, born October 28, 1878, died September 28, 1881

Ellen, born March 5, 1882

After his marriage, John William purchased the real estate and inventory of a dry goods store and worked as a dry goods merchant from 1873 until 1888.  He then became a sales agent for a sewing thread company, calling on merchants who sold fabric and sewing supplies.  His final occupation was selling life insurance policies.

John William died in Lancaster on August 14, 1903.[10]  His wife, Mary Ann, died in Reading, Pennsylvania, at the home of her daughter Mary, on January 10, 1911.[11]

[1] Alice Hill Byrne, daughter of John Hill, Letter to her family, August 1929.  Tory Hill lake is probably Lough Nagira.

[2] Irish Family History Foundation, "Church Baptism Record"

[3] Jacob Hill Byrne, manuscript biography circa 1904, Unpublished

[4] Alice Hill Byrne, Notes from her first trip to Ireland, July 1926

[5] Castle Garden Passenger Arrival Lists

[6] U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914

[7] John Hill,  Letter to parents William and Mary Hill, January 15, 1868

[8] Jacob Hill Byrne, manuscript biography circa 1904

[9] Jacob Reinhold Family Bible Records

[10] Death Affidavits, Register of Wills, County of Lancaster, Pennsylvania,  Book F, Volume 1, Page 659

[11] Death Affidavits, Register of Wills, County of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Book I, Volume 1, Page 355